Check-in: 10:00am
Lecture: 10:30am
Lunch: 12:00pm
RSVP by Monday, October 10 by calling 248.645.3149
$60 per person (SOLD OUT)
Cranbrook House & Gardens Auxiliary and Aaron Bertelsen invite you to journey with us to Northiam, England (across the border from Cranbrook, Kent County, England, where the Booth family and Cranbrook name originated from) during this lecture on gardening at Great Dixter.
Great Dixter was the family home of renowned gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd - it was the focus of his energy and enthusiasm and fueled over 40 years of books and articles. Today, the historic house and garden serve as a center of education and a place of pilgrimage for horticulturists from across the world.
While Great Dixter is known for its clever succession plantings, effusive herbaceous long border and naturalized meadow areas, the kitchen garden is also an internal part of the garden. The late Christopher Lloyd was passionate about growing fruit and vegetables and was also a talented cook. Aaron will discuss how he has taken on the legacy as Dixter’s gardener-cook, and how he manages the kitchen garden throughout the year.
The lecture and lunch will take place in historic Cranbrook House; the English Tudor, 1908 manor home designed by Albert Kahn in the Arts & Crafts style for Cranbrook’s founders, George and Ellen Booth. At over 100 years old, it is the oldest surviving manor home in the metro-Detroit area. For the better part of its first century, the estate served as the family home for the Booths. The house is surrounded by 40 acres of gardens that are maintained by Cranbrook House & Gardens Auxiliary; a non-profit, volunteer-run organization.
Lunch Menu
Salad, your choice of chicken piccata or vegetable risotto, and cheesecake.
Aaron Bertelsen
Aaron’s love of gardening dates back to his childhood, when he would work with his grandfather in his vegetable garden back home in New Zealand. He studied Social Anthropology at the University of Otago before coming to England in 1996 to volunteer in the garden at Great Dixter. He subsequently studied for a Diploma in Horticulture at Kew and spent two years at Jerusalem Botanical Gardens, where he is still a trustee.
He returned to Great Dixter in 2005 and has been there ever since. Aaron’s role has evolved to focus on the vegetable garden; as house manager he is also in charge of the kitchen, cooking for study days and symposia, and for guests and visitors to the house. He is currently working on his first book, on growing and cooking vegetables and fruit, which will be published by Phaidon. He is regularly invited to speak about gardening at events worldwide.
Aaron is also the owner of Conifer and Miscanthus, the latest in a long and distinguished line of Great Dixter dachshunds.
